Can anyone give me an idiot's guide to recording digital audio from an iPad into Protools? I have a number of synths, like Animoog and want to play them in real times as I am recording on Protools.

I have tried to follow various guides (one is from Sweetwater iOS update and discusses Inter App Audio and currently have set up and Aggregate I/O. I have connected the iPad via lightning connector and have enabled it in Audio-Midi setup/audio devices. The ipad comes up as having an input but the output is greyed out. Next to iPad it says 2 ins/0 outs.

I have opened Pro Tools and selected the playback engine as aggregate . I have then gone to I/O and under inputs, it says built in microphone. With output, it says Built in output. I was expecting the input to have a built in input but it doesn't - only built in microphone.

I have tried deleting the I/Os and selecting default but there is no sign of the iPad. Help!!

Just adding the Focusrite iTrack Dock, which works fine via the Lightning connector.

Well, "fine" ... but with caveats. I use an iPad Air, but I think some thinner iPads need an extra shim so that the port/connector is correctly aligned. Another niggle: even some class-compliant USB MIDI controllers don't work (when they should, including some Korgs), and there are no 5-pin MIDI ports to use as an alternative. I'm currently using a Keystep.

And another, more annoying one (a facepalm-level design flaw): an electric guitar plugged into the Hi-Z input has excessive noise when recording. Because there's no grounding via the iTrack! So you get all of the 50Hz EMF hum that your guitar pickups can suck out of the air.

Workaround: to get the lowest noise floor, you can ground the unit another way. At home I did this by plugging the unused input into a nearby Integra 7's headphone socket (Integra is a proper device, with a permanently grounded chassis and jacks even when switched off). The noise floor was then normal. Same should be true if you plugged the iTracks outputs into some grounded active monitors.

I'm running quantiloop pro on my ipad 3rd generation (30pin connector). I want to connect my usb alesis io2 souncard to the ipad so that I can use the inputs on the soudcard to play and record loops on guitar/vox. I went and bough a camera connection kit (30pin to usb adapter) and a usb 3.0 power hub. When connecting the hub into the ipad I get a message 'USB hub 2.0: the connected device requires too much power'. This is happening before I connect the soundcard into the usb hub which leads me to think the usb hub is not working might not be compatible with the camera connection kit?

The other issue that comes to mind is newer versions of the ipad run usb-c to apple lighting/usb 3 connector which means the ipad gets power from connection the charger into the usb 3 socket. Could this be the issue as my ipad is not getting power from anywhere?

'USB hub 2.0: the connected device requires too much power'. This is happening before I connect the soundcard into the usb hub which leads me to think the usb hub is not working might not be compatible with the camera connection kit?

It sounds like the hub is not receiving power independently (presumably you have an AC-DC adaptor for it) and is therefore trying to draw power from the iPad. Can you check this? For example, does the hub power/charge other devices (keyboard, phone etc?). iPads are fussy (by design) as to which peripherals they will work with. Cheap (non-apple) options can fail, but then again, there are usually no apple-produced options for older devices like your 30-pin iPad.

Also, I recall that the Alesis "iO2 express" will not work with the iPad, irrespective of power arrangements. I hope you have the older iO2, which is at least theoretically compatible if you can get the power issue resolved.

I'm running quantiloop pro on my ipad 3rd generation (30pin connector). I want to connect my usb alesis io2 souncard to the ipad so that I can use the inputs on the soudcard to play and record loops on guitar/vox. I went and bough a camera connection kit (30pin to usb adapter) and a usb 3.0 power hub. When connecting the hub into the ipad I get a message 'USB hub 2.0: the connected device requires too much power'. This is happening before I connect the soundcard into the usb hub which leads me to think the usb hub is not working might not be compatible with the camera connection kit?

One thing: Apple lies about USB power consumption. On some models on later versions of iOS, a USB device which won't work (popping up the message you saw). But it WILL work when connected via an UNPOWERED hub! Sounds completely batty but it's true. See here for one example: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J-I-nnocYtU

Of course, this might not be the only problem you have if the Alesis is not iOS compatible.

(Like you I have a 3rd gen iPad and Apple's CCK and after an iOS update the USB thumb drive I had suddenly "consumes too much power". Complete Apple BS. I got a £2 unpowered USB hub as shown in that video and the thumb drive now works fine. I'm pretty sure that Apple's arrogance makes third party suppliers think twice about making devices for iOS.)

BillB wrote:The X25 is "class-compliant" which is why it works with the iPad. It doesn't need any drivers for Windows 7/10, not sure about XP but the chances are that you can plug it in and it will work. Actually, I just rummaged through my files and found soemthing called: AlesisPhotonX25-usbfix_v1_04.zip - which mentions WinXP in the readme file.Don't remember using this, so you would be on your own. I will PM you with a link.

Bill

Hi, Bill.I'm looking forward for the PhotonX25USBfix_v1_04.zip file. Do you have it? If so, will you send a valid link for downloading it? I'm driving crazy looking for it in internet!Thanks a lot.

Working on Windows 10 !!!!!Thanks a lot, BillB!!!!But it was a headache to install windows XP with a virtual machine, and to have the files in the XP system. It couldn't read an USB device, it couldn't share files with host machine (running virtual machine under windows vista), it could't connect to internet neither via WiFi nor via ethernet cable. Finally, I decide to try with a really really legacy device: a CD :lol: Surprisingly,I found a blank CD in a drawer, I burned it and... it worked!!!!!!!!!Now, my alesis Photon X25 works perfectly in Ableton 10 Live! Even the axyz 3D controller dome!!!!!!!! :clap: Thanks again, BillB for bringing to life my old Photon X25!!!! :thumbup:

I had to do an all battery powered gig this summer including the PA. I was running two mics into Quantiloop running a few tasty FX then passing it back out to the PA.

I bought the Zoom U-24. It’s a fantastic interface and very versatile. Battery life was good but I turned it off between sets so can’t say how long they last. It’s not as solidly built as say the H4N so I wish there was a plastic case for it to protect it during travel like there is for the H4N.

2 mics/Zoom/latest CCK/iPad Prowhile sending the outputs of the Zoom to the PA and headphones and the H4N recorder.